


Food Court Romance

by Monokarhu



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series, 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, First Dates, Kay is a monster...hugger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22274065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monokarhu/pseuds/Monokarhu
Summary: Kay never thought she'd find true love inside an odd bear costume and Teddie never thought he'd be thanking his lucky stars for forgetting to drink one morning, but fate has a funny habit of being really, really weird. Will they end up together? Will Teddie be able to tell Kay that he's a Shadow? Will anyone ever understand why anyone would pair the two together?(Yes, yes, and no.)
Relationships: Ichijou Mikumo | Kay Faraday/Kuma | Teddie (Persona Series)
Kudos: 10





	1. Thirst Makes You Do Strange Things

**Author's Note:**

> Just like with my other nonsense, the following applies:  
> \- The AA timeline is shifted back 7 years  
> \- Kay is Mikumo, and she's actually Japanese, and I use the name Kay Faraday merely out of convenience, and blah blah  
> \- She also lives in Inaba  
> \- The story takes place at some unspecified point in time after Persona 4: Dancing All Night

For quite some time now, Kay Faraday had had a mildly eccentric habit; every Wednesday, she would go to Junes, buy a bottle of soda (usually Orange Smash, her favorite), sit down at the quiet food court, and think about things while slowly consuming her drink.

This Wednesday was no exception. After she sat down and placed her Orange Smash bottle on the table, her thoughts immediately wandered to the most common subject of her weekly thinking sessions; that time she, Mr. Edgeworth & Co. solved some crimes. Considering what had happened last time, she couldn't help but wonder if visiting Mr. Edgeworth again would cause another cascade of crime to occur. Perhaps it was her destiny to incite murder wherever she went, she thought.

As she was absent-mindedly taking a sip from her bottle, a sudden loud thud brought her back to reality with such surprise that she almost spilled the soda. She looked to her left, where she had heard the sound from, and noticed a weird red-and-blue blob lying on the ground a couple meters away. She stood up, carefully snuck up to it, knelt down, and, upon closer examination, realized that it was actually Teddie, the weird bear-like mascot of Junes, lying face-down.

"A-Are you alright?", she asked, realizing that it was a mildly silly question to ask of someone who had just collapsed face-first.

"I'm... uuurgghh... thr... thrrhr... thrirrsrt...", the mascot groaned slowly and vaguely while weakly trying to get up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite... catch that," Kay replied as she grabbed the mascot's round body and slowly helped the person inside stand up. At first, it seemed like they were about to collapse again, but then something on the table caught their eye.

Before Kay was even able to react, they leapt towards the table, grabbed her soda bottle with one mitten-like hand and popped off the mascot costume's head with the other to reveal... a beautiful, seemingly foreign boy, whose blonde hair flowed in the wind quite gracefully as he desperately fumbled with the cap of the bottle, trying very hard to unscrew it with his unwieldy mascot hands while clearly still being afflicted by whatever caused him to collapse just a moment ago.

Kay was already utterly confused by this spectacle, but the boy took it a step further; after he managed to uncap the bottle, instead of merely drinking from it like some kind of a civilized person, he lifted it above his head with both his hands, tilted his head back, opened his mouth wide, and started pouring the soda down his throat while squeezing the bottle like his life depended on it.

While some of the soda definitely went into his mouth, a lot of it also went on his face, his hair, his clothes, his costume, the table, the ground, and basically everything except Kay, who was warily watching the mess unfold from where she was standing. As he kept savagely shaking and crushing the bottle to get its contents out while making noises that didn't sound very far off from those of a wild animal tearing apart its prey, she slowly started to wonder if she should perhaps run away as fast as she could.

After the bottle was completely empty and utterly mangled, he dropped it to the ground, leaned forward against the table with both his mitten-hands, and started breathing so heavily that Kay had to assume he hadn't had anything to drink for a week.

"Are you... feeling better now?", she carefully asked him after a moment, still unsure if she should try to help him or run for the hills.

Upon hearing her question, he immediately bounced into an upright posture, seemingly remembering that department store mascots generally aren't supposed to maul the customers' drinks. He then slowly turned around, looked Kay into the eyes for a couple seconds with a very scared expression on his face, got on all fours as fast as one possibly could, clasped his hands together, and started repeating "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry" so quickly that she could barely make out what he was even trying to say.

At this point, Kay was almost fully convinced that she was being filmed for some sort of a candid camera show, but because the supposed film crew hadn't shown itself yet, she decided that she might as well go along with it for now.

"It's... It's okay. I forgive you," she told him. He stopped babbling, unclasped his hands, and looked up at her. "R-Really?" "Yeah, yeah. Now, _please_ stand up. Even if there's no-one else here, you're embarrassing both of us."

She went back to her seat, wiped away the few Orange Smash drops it had on it, and sat down. He stood up from the ground, picked up the costume head he had thrown off previously, put it on the table, and sat down opposite her.

"So, mind telling me what the actual heck that was all about?", Kay asked the boy while he was shaking his head to get some of the soda off his face and hair.

"Well, uh, I kinda forgot to drink this morning, and work has been so busy that I couldn't find any time to drink here either, so I've been thirsty _the entire day_! I was sent out here to see if anyone at the food court might need something, but... well, you know. I almost fainted, and then I saw your delicious Orange Smash, and I just... couldn't help it. *sigh* If Yosuke hears about this, he's going to make bear skewers out of me," he explained in a mildly hopeless tone as he slowly sunk into his seat.

Kay looked at his sad, soda-dripping face, and couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for the poor guy.

"Luckily for you, I'm generally not the kind of person who complains about things like this, but _please_ remember to drink in the morning from now on. I don't want to read a news article about someone's blood having been drunk by very thirsty local department store mascot... what's your name again?" "Teddie!" "No, I mean your real name." "Like I just said, Teddie!" "I know the mascot's name is Teddie, but I mean _you_ , the person _inside_ the costume." "Also Teddie!" "Oh. Well, uh... Nice to meet you, Mr. Teddie. I'm Kay. Kay Faraday." "Kay-chan, eh? Nice to meet you too!"

Neither of them could think of anything to say after that, so Teddie's gaze started wandering. He looked at the crunched-up bottle on the ground, and after a few seconds of vague thought, he got a very brilliant idea (in his opinion, anyway).

He leaned against the table with his left arm in a manner that could only be described as "desperately casual", pointed his right index finger at Kay, and adopted a very self-satisfied expression while looking directly at her. "How's about I treat you to dinner as an apology for what I did to your poor soda?"

To say that Kay was 'taken completely aback' would be quite an understatement. It wasn't exactly the first time someone had propositioned something of the sort to her, but to do it right after mangling her drink, while in a silly mascot outfit, while orange soda was still slowly dripping down his chin...

"He's got to be either the bravest or the dumbest person I've ever met", she thought to herself. "When you say 'dinner', you mean _just_ that, right?", she then asked him. "If you insist, but I'd really like some dessert too. Ice cream, maybe," he replied completely innocently.

"Okay, so dumb it is," she replied to her own thought.

After pondering about the pros and cons of agreeing to his suggestion for a moment, she ultimately decided that 'free food' triumphed over the small chance of getting her face bitten off. She also had to admit that he didn't exactly look all that bad, even if there clearly wasn't very much going on behind his brilliant blue eyes.

"Fine. It's a deal."

This time, it was Teddie who was completely taken aback. "Y-You really mean it!?", he asked her in a tone that clearly indicated all his previous attempts at anything similar had been complete failures.

"I'll eat dinner with you, but I promise nothing more," she told him as clearly as she could. "I'll take it! Though I'd kinda like to talk with you too, if that's alright," he replied, fully convincing Kay that she was definitely talking to the dumbest person she had ever met. "...I think that can be arranged. So when's a good time for you?" "How about 4 PM on Friday? That's when I get off work!" "Sure. I'll meet you here." "Great! See ya then!"

He grabbed the head of his costume from the table, put it back on, and started running towards Junes in a very silly manner while waving at Kay. She waved back until he disappeared into the store, after which she sat there almost completely motionless, staring forward blankly while her brain tried its hardest to comprehend exactly what she had just signed up for.

After a few minutes of failing to do so, she suddenly felt very thirsty, so she reached for her Orange Smash bottle. When she couldn't find it by merely groping at the table, she decided to use her eyes too. She looked at the table and saw nothing but a few orange-ish droplets. 

" _Oh yeah_."


	2. Best Friends...?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kay lies to herself and meets a couple of weirdos.

It was the day after Kay had agreed to go eat dinner with her new... acquaintance. Despite her usual schedule only having one 'Junes food court sit-around' per week, she was once again there, staring into the distance, trying very hard to get her thoughts into check.

"It's just dinner," she told herself.  
"It doesn't really mean anything," she assured herself.   
"Just because I'm going out to dinner with a boy, who is admittedly almost kind of cute when he keeps his weird mouth shut, doesn't mean it's a 'date'. He's just paying back the Orange Smash he drank. That's all. I mean, hey, that's probably what he's thinking too, right? It's not like all boys are perverted. Surely he's one of those 'gallant knight' types, who would never even consider holding hands with anyone before the sixth date. Not that this is a date. It's dinner. With an acquaintance. Who is a bit cute. Not that it matters, though, because dinner is all it is. I'm going to eat dinner with him once, and tha-"

As she continued sinking deeper and deeper into the mire of blatant lies within her mind, a voice suddenly roused her from her almost-meditative state.

"Um, excuse me?"

She turned to her left, and noticed two girls standing there. One of them had short brown hair and was wearing green, and the other had long black hair and was wearing red.

"Are... Are you Kay-chan, by any chance?", Green asked her hesitantly.

"...I am, yes," Kay answered in a careful tone, wondering if she was currently talking to the smallest delinquent gang in Japan.

"We were walking by and happened to notice you, and since you looked like how Teddie described his date partner, we decided that we needed to talk with you about him. Do you have time?", Red asked her next.

"You know Teddie, huh? Sure, I have plenty of time. Also, it's not a date, it's just dinner," she answered, and motioned for the two to sit down on the benches surrounding the circular table. Green sat on the bench to her left, and Red sat directly across her.

She couldn't help but wonder what the two girls were to Teddie. Were they his friends, or rivals, or potential love interests, or sisters, or other members of the National Association of Department Store Mascots, or-

Her train of thought was suddenly interrupted by Red slamming her fist into the table so hard that both Kay and Green recoiled in shock.

"I _know_ you're planning to scam Teddie somehow!", Red half-yelled in the most 'police procedural-esque' tone one could possibly muster while pointing at Kay. "No-one would willingly go out with him otherwise!"

"Isn't that a bit harsh, Yukiko?", Green asked her while fidgeting nervously.

"Maybe so, Chie, but I'm just thinking about what's best for him," Yukiko told Chie. "If no-one would ever go out with Teddie, and Kay here _is_ planning on going out with him, she _has to_ have an ulterior motive, right?"

" _I'm right here_ ," Kay said in a mildly annoyed tone. "Who are you two, anyway?"

"Oh, we're two of Teddie's best friends! I'm Chie and this is Yukiko!", Chie said, pointing at herself and then at Yukiko. Kay couldn't help but look a bit confused.

"So, you're his best friends... but you're going around telling people that he's so incredibly awful that anyone going out on a 'date' with him _must be_ some kind of a mooch?", she asked quizzically.

"I'm not saying he's a horrible person or anything, it's just that his behavior is usually so uncouth that he almost immediately turns off anyone he's talking to," Yukiko answered bluntly.

"Come to think of it, how did you two end up agreeing to dinner together anyway? I couldn't make heads or tails out of whatever Teddie was excitedly yelling into the phone," Chie wondered.

"Well, uh...", Kay muttered. "I was out here drinking a soda, and he almost fainted in front of me because he hadn't drunk anything that day, so he drank my soda in a thirst-filled haze, and to make up for it, he offered to treat me to dinner. I agreed to it because I felt sorry for him, and I can't say I have anything against free food either."

Yukiko and Chie looked at each other for a moment, and then at Kay.

"That's... definitely the 'Teddie-est' way of asking someone out to dinner," Chie said in a mildly sarcastic tone.

Kay shrugged her shoulders. "What can I say? He definitely made an impression, at least," she told Chie.

Chie turned towards Yukiko to ask her for the obligatory snarky comment, only to realize that she was staring intently at Kay's chest. Just as Chie was about to ask Yukiko what she was doing, Yukiko's face lit up.

"Now I remember!", Yukiko stated, lifting her finger, which she then pointed at the badge attached to Kay's scarf. "That's the symbol of the great thief Yatagarasu, isn't it?" Chie leaned close to Kay to look at it.

"Hey, it is!", Chie exclaimed. "So are you a Yatagarasu fangirl or what?", she asked Kay.

"Well, actually... I _am_ the Yatagarasu," Kay stated matter-of-factly.

Chie and Yukiko looked at each other again, and then at Kay like she had just told them she was Napoleon.

" _Really?_ ", Yukiko asked.

"Really," Kay answered.

Yukiko thought about something for a moment, and then put on a very serious face.

"If you're a thief, then you're _definitely_ after something Teddie owns!", she proclaimed in her 'police procedural voice' again. Kay couldn't help but look unimpressed.

"First of all, the only thing the Yatagarasu steals is the truth," Kay stated. "Second of all, does Teddie even _own_ anything of any value? Last time I checked, rich people don't work as department store mascots."

"Nnnnope," Chie stated bluntly. "This is what I was trying to tell Yukiko in the first place! Teddie owns nothing worth scamming, so there's no reason for anyone to scam him!"

Yukiko sighed. "I guess you're right. In the end, this is just a case of youthful romance," she said wistfully, dropping her seemingly serious allegations with barely any gravitas.

"How many times do I have to tell you that _it's just dinner_ ," Kay insisted.

"That's how it always begins," Chie replied. "First you're eating dinner together, then you'll grab lunch together, and soon enough, you'll be eating _breakfast_ together!"

"Whatever," Kay said as she crossed her arms and huffed.

Yukiko once again thought about something for a moment. "You know, I think we should help Teddie with this date," she told Chie. "If he got himself a girlfriend, he'd probably stop bothering us about it, right?"

"Of course!", Chie responded excitedly. "Say, Kay, if you had a boyfriend, and he tried to woo other girls, you'd punch him in the face, right?", she asked Kay.

"I... probably wouldn't go that far, but I imagine I'd discourage the behavior, yes," Kay said in a slightly exasperated tone, convinced that it was utterly useless to keep telling them it wasn't a date.

"Great!", Chie replied and gave Kay a thumbs-up. "We should go find Teddie and give him some pointers on how to behave like a human being," she then told Yukiko.

They both rose up from their chairs, said bye to Kay and wished her good luck on her date, and walked into the store with very determined steps. Kay waved at them until they disappeared out of sight, and then started staring forward blankly.

"It _is_ a date, isn't it?", she finally admitted to herself.


	3. How to Behave Approximately Like a Human Being

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teddie's best buds (well, the ones who were available at that moment, anyway) teach him how to not completely screw up his date.

Teddie was on a well-earned break in the employees' room, looking out the window blithely while munching on some chocolate chip cookies. Just like Kay, he was thinking about the date tomorrow, but unlike her, he didn't feel all that stressed out about it. He knew that his natural charisma and excellent talking skills would win her over in no time, and before either of them would even know it, they'd be marrie-

"EMERGENCY MEETING TIME!", Chie yelled at the top of her lungs (interrupting Teddie's vague train of thought) as she suddenly barged into the room alongside Yukiko who was dragging Yosuke by the arm.

"Ow. Ow. Ow! What the hell are you doing!?", Yosuke asked the two while being dragged, clearly annoyed. Yukiko and Chie sat down, and motioned for Yosuke to sit down too, which he reluctantly did.

"We're here to plan for Teddie's date tomorrow," Yukiko said in a very stern tone.

"It _has to_ succeed!", Chie added.

"Wow, I didn't know you cared about me this much!", Teddie said in amazement. "Aren't you going to feel jealous if I get taken by someone else, though?", he continued while giving the two a very self-assured look.

"NO!", they both yelled in unison. "That's exactly _why_ we want you to get a girlfriend; so that you'll stop bugging us!" Chie stated bluntly.

"This is some nice, friendly banter and all, but couldn't you do it elsewhere?", Yosuke told them in an annoyed tone. "Also, I can't stay here, I've got a job to do! It's not like Teddie's break is infinite either, you know."

"First of all, we can't go to the food court, because Kay-chan might still be there, and I don't want her to hear about all of Teddie's oddities," Yukiko told Yosuke matter-of-factly. "Second of all, if Teddie does manage to get a girlfriend, you'll probably be seeing her a lot. If you don't want her to know about your 'nurse magazines', you'd better lend us a few minutes of your time." Yosuke immediately recoiled in horror after hearing the words 'nurse magazines'.

"Oh, COME ON! That's just... _wrong_! It's practically blackmail!", he said with a very consternated look on his face. Teddie patted his shoulder in an understanding manner.

"Don't worry, I won't tell her," Teddie said in a saintlike tone.

"These two know about my _magazines_ in the first place specifically because YOU TOLD THEM, you idiot!", Yosuke yelled at him while swatting his hand away.

"Oh yeah," Teddie responded. He then grabbed and ate another cookie with a blank look on his face.

"If we keep going in circles about Yosuke's porn stash, we're going to get nowhere here, guys," Chie said, interrupting their spat.

"I _told you_ it's not po- oh, whatever," Yosuke huffed. "So, what exactly are we going to do to improve Teddie's chances?"

"We're going to teach him how to behave like a normal human being," Yukiko stated while digging out a notepad and a pen from her purse. "What would be some good pointers towards such behavior?" The trio started thinking heavily, while Teddie continued munching on his cookies and thinking about how he's going to easily woo Kay with his inimitable charm.

"Well, you definitely have to drop all the weird 'scoring' stuff and whatnot. If you start talking about that kinda thing, she's out of there faster than you can make a bear pun," Chie started.

"And you can absolutely not talk about anything supernatural. If you tell her you're 'a Shadow from the TV World', she'll think you're a complete nut," Yosuke added.

"You should probably refrain from speaking too much in general. The less you talk, the smaller the chance of her realizing your lack of intelligence is," Yukiko finished and wrote down everything that was just said.

"Oh, come on! I'm a smart bear!", Teddie protested.

"Name five things you know anything about," Yosuke asked him very rhetorically.

"Umm... Uhh... Ummmmmm... Ice cream flavors?", Teddie answered very desperately. Yosuke, Yukiko, and Chie all looked at him blankly. Yukiko then handed him the note.

"Here. Follow this advice, and you might just barely make it through without making a complete fool of yourself," she told him. 

"I'll try," he said as he pocketed the note. "Come to think of it, how much dating experience do you guys have?", Teddie asked them innocently. They all looked at each other for a moment, and then at Teddie.

"Shut up!", they yelled in unison, startling him. "Geez, you don't have to be _that_ touchy about it," he told them as he took yet another cookie from the bag.

"Now that this clown fiesta is over, can we please resume our daily lives? I've got a job to do, Teddie's got a job to do, and I'm sure you two have... something to do too," Yosuke stated while slowly walking towards the exit door.

"Actually, I have one more thing for you, Teddie," Yukiko stated while rummaging through her purse. After a bit of searching, she finally found what she was looking for and gave it to Teddie.

"Oh hey, it's the group photo! What am I going to do with this, though?", Teddie wondered while looking at it.

"You're definitely going to tell her you know Rise and Naoto, and she's definitely not going to believe you unless you have some proof, so show her that," Chie replied. She and Yukiko then rose up from their chairs and walked out of the room with Yosuke while waving bye at Teddie.

He pocketed the photo, put a cookie into his mouth, looked at the clock, realized that he should be working already, put another cookie into his mouth, and ran into the store.


	4. Dating All Night (except it's actually daytime)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> D-Day (short for Date-Day) is finally here! Will Teddie succeed in his desperate quest to woo someone? Will Kay get the food she was promised? Will Yosuke's life be hell as usual? Who the heck is Janine? Find out the answers to these questions and more below!

For the third day in a row, Kay was sitting at the Junes food court, slouching idly as she waited for the clock to strike four. She still had her doubts, but she didn't let them faze her. If she was promised free food, she _was_ going to get it, dang it.

"Fifteen minutes left, huh," she thought as she looked at her flip phone. "I wonder what he's doing right now."

* * *

"Fifteen minutes left, huh," Teddie thought as he looked at the clock on the store wall while sweeping the floor. "Hey, Yosuke, can I leave work early today?", he asked his bestest bud.

"What are you, dumb? Of course you can! In fact, go change right now. I'm not going to have you go out there in dirty clothes," Yosuke replied while checking the shelves.

While Yosuke was definitely jealous of the fact that Teddie, of all people, managed to get a date before him, he still wanted it to succeed. He wouldn't just stand by idly and watch as Teddie torpedoed his own chances by acting like a complete slob.

(Of course, it also helped that this mysterious Kay-chan might have some cute friends who Yosuke might get introduced to, and he'd look like a veritable intellectual when compared to Teddie.)

"Wow, thanks!", Teddie yelled as he started running towards the employees' changing room, dropping the broom he had been using on the floor.

"God damn it, Teddie! Don't just- Ugh," Yosuke groaned as he picked up Teddie's broom from the floor. "If _this_ is the level of care he's going to put into the things he's doing, I should buy some ice cream for when he comes home heartbroken," he thought to himself as he set the broom aside.

Teddie ran into the changing room, quickly undressed himself, realized he forgot to bring new clothes, looked into Yosuke's locker, noticed a bag with a note on top of it, and picked up the note to read it.

"Dear Teddie,  
I knew you'd forget your clothes, you clumsy oaf. Here you go. You owe me one.  
-Yosuke"

"Aww, how sweet of him," Teddie said to no-one in particular as he opened the bag. He took out his new set of clothes (which looked the same as his old set of clothes), put them on, and admired himself in the mirror. "Wow, I look even more radiant than I usually do!"

"Self-confidence is good, but don't take it _too_ far, bear," Yosuke snarkily commented from the door. "You _do_ remember the rules we taught you yesterday, right?"

Teddie rubbed his chin for a moment. "Uhh... one, 'don't talk weird'... two, 'don't talk about weird things'... and three, 'preferably don't talk at all', right?"

"...Something like that, yeah. Just don't act like a complete dope, okay? Also, I put the photo in your right pocket, so make sure you pull it out when she inevitably doesn't believe you."

"Sure thing! Anyway, gotta run! See ya later!", Teddie yelled as he ran past Yosuke. Yosuke then noticed all the clothes Teddie had thrown off scattered around the room.

"I swear to God I'm going to end him one of these days," he muttered half-jokingly under his breath as he collected the clothes into his bag.

* * *

"A minute till 4, huh," Kay thought as she looked at her phone screen yet again. "I wonder if he'll be fashionably late." She then turned her gaze towards the door and noticed someone approaching fast. "Guess not."

"Hi, Kay-chan! Wow, I can't believe you actually showed up!", Teddie yelled while running towards her. After he reached her table, he sat down too.

"I keep my promises. Plus, you owe me," she said with a smirk on her face. "So, where will you be taking me?"

"There's this great ramen place nearby. Come, I'll lead the way," he said proudly as he stood up (after a whopping 15 seconds of sitting) and started walking.

* * *

After they walked into the shop and ordered their ramen bowls, they sat down at a free table. However, all they could do was slowly slurp down their noodles in silence. Kay couldn't think of much to talk about, and Teddie's lips were almost completely sealed thanks to the Three Golden Rules.

After slurping up yet another bunch of noodles and chewing on them for a while, Kay decided to finally break the ice, no matter what baloney might come out of her mouth.

"So, uh... what do you do? Apart from department store work, I mean," she asked him. He thought about what he could and couldn't say for a moment.

"Well, I... am not currently doing very much... besides that," he replied carefully before nervously swallowing a few noodles.

"Huh. I was sure you were a transfer student. If you don't mind me asking, what's your... 'story', for lack of a better word?" Teddie slowly began to regret his decision to not think about these things beforehand.

"Well, uh, I'm... Yosuke's cousin... from America. Yeah. Yosuke's my boss at work, by the way. I'm staying over at his place," he haphazardly mumbled before sucking down some more noodles he could munch on in despair.

"Ah, of course. That means you're good at English, right? I'd love to hear some!" It was at this point that Teddie realized he might not make it in the cutthroat world of dating.

"Uhh... I could do that, yes, but... how about you tell me something about yourself first?", he desperately deflected.

"Ah, how rude of me! I shouldn't make you do all the work, now should I?", she said in an apologetic tone. "Honestly, I'm not all that interesting of a person. I go to school, I hang out with my friends, I'm the inheritor of the Great Thief Yatagarasu's legacy, I visit Junes every Wednesday. Exciting stuff, I know," she explained. "Oh yeah, I did help solve some murders a few months back with my prosecutor and detective friends. That was fun!"

Teddie's face practically started glowing. "Wow, really? What a coincidence! I also helped solve-", he proudly stated before cutting off mid-sentence, realizing that he basically just broke one of the Three Golden Rules.

"Helped solve... what?", Kay asked him while his face looked like he had just been kicked in the groin.

"Uh... You remember the murders that happened a while back here in Inaba?"

"How could I ever forget? What about them?"

"Well, uhh... Me and some friends... helped the police... search for clues. Something like that."

"There's a real detective club here in Inaba? Wow! Maybe I should submit an application."

"Wait, you... actually believe me? Just like that?"

"Sure, why not? I did just tell you I've investigated a few crimes too, didn't I?"

Teddie's expression changed from 'dire' to 'relaxed' so quickly that Kay thought his face was melting off for a second.

"Oh, thank goodness! My friends convinced me that you'd believe nothing I would say, so I was afraid you'd think I'm a liar!" He then dug out the photo from his right pocket. "I might as well show you this right away. It's a photo of the Investigation Team, our little group."

"Let's see," Kay stated as she unfolded it. "There's you, and Chie and Yukiko, and... wait, is that... Naoto Shirogane!? And Rise Kujikawa!?"

"Yep! They're my friends too!"

Kay looked at him like she'd seen a ghost doing a real sick kickflip. "You... solved crimes with an idol and one of the most famous detectives ever!? That's awesome! Amazing!! Like... really freaking cool!!!", she yelled before realizing that she was still in a ramen shop. "Truly spectacular indeed," she whispered to no-one in particular before shrinking down and slurping a few noodles in embarrassment.

"I do have some great friends, don't I? I've solved crimes with them, fought with them, danced with them, everything!" After hearing the word 'danced', Kay took another look at the photo, squinting her eyes real hard.

"Wait, don't tell me you're... oh, you've _got to be_ kidding me!", she half-yelled as she realized just who she was looking at; popular idol Kanamin's backup dancers from the LMB festival she had seen on TV. "I thought the weirdly flailing mascot thing on the stage looked familiar, but I never would've thought it actually _was_ you!"

"Hey, I'll have you know that my dancing skills are un-bear-lievable! It's just that the plans were changed at the last minute because we def- uh, I mean... they were changed for... various reasons," he explained before nervously slurping down most of his remaining noodles really quickly.

Kay looked at him with something that could've almost been described as admiration. "You sure lead an interesting life, don't you? Next you'll tell me you've been in a movie," she jokingly commented before finishing her bowl.

Teddie, not one to be labeled a slow eater, picked up the few stray strands of ramen he had left and started chewing on them. After he finished his meal, he seemed lost in thought for a moment. "I don't think I have. If I had, surely I'd remember it, right?"

"Probably. Maybe not if it was really sad."

* * *

After Teddie paid for their meals, they walked out of the restaurant into the quiet, breezy outside world.

"So, uh... would you like to eat food with me again?", Teddie asked Kay while fidgeting nervously. She couldn't help but smile at how awkwardly he phrased his plea.

"Sure. Next time, I might even pay for my food," she said slightly sarcastically.

"That'd be great! My wallet's already crying out in pain," he said in a tone that indicated he wasn't joking at all. He then pulled his phone out of his pocket. "Anyway, let's swap numbers!"

Kay took her phone out too, flipped it open, and exchanged numbers with him. "I could go for lunch on Sunday. How about that?", she asked him.

"Sounds good to me! I'm a big fan of lunch."

"Great. See ya then!"

After saying that, she ran off. However, after taking just a few steps, she stopped, stood there for a moment, and ran back to Teddie.

"How do you, uh, feel about kisses?", she asked him.

"I've never had one, but I've heard they're pretty neat. Why?", he asked back.

"Because I've... got one for you!", she blurted out. She then kissed him on the cheek, started blushing and cringing because of how utterly awkwardly she just acted, and ran off very embarrassed while yelling "Byeeeeeeee..."

Meanwhile, Teddie could do nothing but stand there in awe and gently rub the spot that she had just kissed.

"Wow. I am _never_ washing my face again."

* * *

After Teddie arrived home, he took a Nice Ice cone from the freezer and went into his (or, well, Yosuke's) room. Upon hearing his arrival, Yosuke paused his cat video and turned around.

"So, how'd it go? Did you get rejected, or did you get rejected _hard_?"

"Let's just say I'm never washing my face again," Teddie replied smugly while giggling and caressing the spot Kay had kissed.

"...What the hell does that even mean?", Yosuke asked in utter confusion.

"It means I got kissed! On the face! By her!", Teddie responded enthusiastically.

"So it _wasn't_ a total failure then? Honestly, I didn't think you had it in you. How'd you do it?"

"Well, uh... I think it's mostly because I'm friends with Rise-chan and Nao-chan, and that made me sound like an interesting bearacter, but still! I've got a second date, and that's all that matters! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some ice cream I must attend to." He then jumped into his comfy closet cave and slammed the door shut.

Yosuke slouched down into his chair and sighed heavily. "When am _I_ going to find someone that desperate?"

* * *

After Kay arrived home, she said hi to her grandparents, took an Orange Smash bottle from the fridge, and went into her room. She then collapsed on her bed and just stared at the ceiling for a while.

"Am I in love?", she thought before taking a swig of soda. "Nah, of course not."

She then took out her phone and dialed her best friend, Janine Dean, who picked up the phone after a single ring.

"What's up, Kayby?"

"I think I might be in love, Janey."

"Oh-ho, now we're talkin'! Who is it? Ooh, don't tell me you've _finally_ fallen for me! I don't think my heart'd be able to take it!"

"I'll only tell if you promise you won't laugh."

"Oh, come on, Kay. You know I can't promise that, _especially_ now that I know it's apparently real funny."

Kay sighed and braced herself for the ridicule that was definitely to follow. "Fine. It's... Teddie, the mascot guy from Junes."

Knowing how loud Janine's laugh usually got, Kay pulled her phone away from her ear in preparation. However, the other end of the line remained completely silent. After a moment, Kay put her phone back to her ear. "You still there?", she asked.

"Yeah. Dunno how to react, though. I mean, it's not _that_ funny. Sure, he's got a pretty silly job, but it's still a job. They say responsibility's sexy, don't they?"

"I suppose."

"Didn't know you had a thing for white guys, though. Got a bad case of the ol' Western Fever?"

Kay, who was in the middle of taking a sip, almost choked on her soda because of how surprised she was by this sudden accusation. After a brief coughing fit, she angrily put her phone back against her ear.

"I'll have you know it was HIM who asked ME out! Also, the only reason we even went eating in the first place was because he, uh, drank my soda without permission and repaid it with a ramen dinner. It's a long story."

"Jeez, it was just a joke. You know, I was ready to let the backstory of your precious romantic encounter slide by for now, but after hearing that, I _have_ to know. Tell me _every single_ juicy detail."

Kay sighed once again and contemplated just ending the call, but she felt like she had to talk about it with someone. Anyone.

After she explained what happened between her and Teddie (and Chie and Yukiko too) in arduous detail, Janine finally burst into laughter. Kay moved her phone away from her ear just before she suffered permanent aural damage, and after the laughter subsided, she resumed the conversation.

"See, I knew you'd laugh."

"Of course I did, Kayby. That's _hilarious_! You might just be the first person to ever find true love thanks to dehydration."

"I didn't say it's 'true love'! I don't even know if I really like him or if it's just the free ramen talking."

"Says the girl who agreed to a second date. You ate dinner together, you'll eat lunch together soon, and before you know it, you'll be eating _breakfast_ together."

"Would you believe me if I told you this isn't the first time I've heard that exact sentiment in the last two days?", Kay said in a slightly exasperated tone. "Anyway, yes, I might've kissed him on the cheek and maybe I'll go grab a bite with him again, but... you know. I could just be... confused. He _is_ a pretty confusing person, after all."

"Listen, Kayby. You described his 'beautiful blonde hair' and 'sparkly blue eyes' in various ways like ten times in your explanation of the events. You can try to fool yourself as much as you like, but _clearly_ you've got the hots for him."

Kay couldn't help but assume that this was how the people on the receiving end of Mr. Edgeworth's 'verbal assaults' felt like.

"Okay, fine, _you got me_. He's good-looking, he has investigated murders like I have, he's got a stable job, he has that foreign charm to him, and he knows famous people. What's not to like?"

"That's all well and good, but do you know what he's like as _a person_ and not just a collection of vaguely interesting traits?"

"Well, uh... not really. I mean, he does work as a department store mascot, so he can't be that bad of a person, right?"

"John Wayne Gacy moonlighted as a birthday party clown, Kay. You can't assume someone's a good person just because they hand out balloon animals to children."

" _Ouch_. I guess you're right, but you don't have to say it like _that_."

"I'm just lookin' out for you, Kayby. At the very least, I'll make sure to avenge your death if you wind up mangled in a ditch, okay?" 

"Sure thing," Kay said in a slightly annoyed tone before taking a hearty swig from her precious Orange Smash bottle.

"Anyway, gotta go run some errands. Catch ya later and good luck with that second date!", Janine said before abruptly ending the call like she always did.

Kay flipped her phone shut, put it on the table, and continued staring at the ceiling blankly.

"But, like, seriously, _am I_ in love?", she thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Janine Dean is a rebellious gal who loathes authority figures (except her parents and teachers who are nice to her). She's been besties with Kay ever since the latter moved to Inaba after her father's death, and she likes to call her 'Kayby' (which is a contraction of Kay and baby in case it's not obvious) just like how Kay likes to call her 'Janey'. Kay tried to get Janine to join the Yatagarasu, but she's apparently "too lazy for all that biz". She does, however, highly appreciate the work that the Yatagarasu does (mainly because they "stick it to the man").
> 
> I named her after James Dean, and the fact that her name rhymes just like Kay's name does means that their friendship is eternal.
> 
> (Also, just like Kay, she's actually Japanese and I've merely 'localized' her name because she's an Ace Attorney OC. I haven't thought of a Japanese name for her because I don't know jack about Japanese names.)


	5. The Beginning of Something Bear-tiful

On Sunday, at 7:59 AM, Teddie was sitting on his bed, staring intensely at the clock on his phone screen. Yosuke had told him that he shouldn't call anyone before 8 AM, and he had taken the advice way too literally, like he often tended to. When the clock turned 8:00, he immediately dialed Kay's number and put the phone to his ear, practically shaking in excitement.

On the other end of the line, Kay was woken up from her peaceful slumber by the Jammin' Ninja theme blaring out from her phone speaker. She reached for her nightstand without opening her eyes, groped around for a bit, grabbed her phone upon finding it, considered throwing it at the nearest wall, decided against doing so, flipped it open, and opened her tired eyes to look at the screen.

" _Of course_ it's him," she mumbled before yawning loudly. She then pressed the accept call button and put the phone to her ear.

"Do you have _any_ idea what time it is!?", she yelled before Teddie could get a word in.

"It's 8! Yosuke told me I shouldn't call anyone before 8, so I waited patiently!", he said proudly.

"That doesn't apply to Sundays, you nitwit! Who on Earth would want to wake up at 8 on a Sunday?"

"I would when there's a date to be had! So where do you wanna go?"

"Back to sleep."

"No, I mean, where do you wan-"

"I _know_ what you meant, you dingus. How about we just grab a bite at Junes? Let's say... at noon."

"Great! See ya then! Bye!"

"Bye," Kay said before ending the call. She then put her phone on the nightstand and went back to sleep.

* * *

A few minutes before noon, Kay walked up to Teddie at the front entrance of Junes.

"Hi, Kay-chan! I'm glad you showed up again!", he told her.

"I sure did. How long have you been standing here?", she asked him.

"Oh, just an hour or so. No biggie," he said while shrugging his shoulders.

"...Sorry to make you wait, I suppose. Anyway, before we get our food, there's something I'd like to talk about," she said before walking inside. Teddie followed right after.

After they got up to the food court, they sat down at an empty table.

"Let me get straight to the point. I thought about it for the last couple days, and, uh... I think I like you," she told him while scratching the back of her head and looking away. He slammed his hands into the table and leaned forward, his face practically shining with glee.

"R-Really!? Wow, this is one of the happiest days of my life! Maybe even _the_ happiest!", he told her while shaking in joy.

"Hold your horses, buckaroo," she said while waving her hands in front of her. "Like I just said, I _think_ I like you. I know that you've done some cool things and you're acquainted with some cool people, but I don't really know what you're like as a person, you know? You seemed oddly secretive about your personal life in general, so tell me; are you hiding something?"

The glee quickly drained from his face and he sat back down. As he slowly sunk into his seat, he started twiddling his thumbs while looking around nervously.

"Aw jeez. I knew this was going to come sooner or later, but I didn't think it would come this soon," he mumbled to himself. "Do I tell her or not? If I don't, she'll probably leave me, but if I do, I'll definitely get yelled at. Aw jeez. _Awwwwwww jeez_."

"I can hear everything you're mumbling, you know," she told him with a smirk on her face. He stopped his blathering, looked her in the eyes for a moment, and adopted a very stern expression.

"Fine. I'll tell you _everything_ and face any potential consequences like a brave bear," he said while straightening his posture. "However, it's the kind of story you're definitely not going to believe without evidence, so we should swing by the electronics department first."

"I don't really get what you mean by that, but... okay," she responded in mild confusion.

"Before I completely bear-fuddle you and leave you absolutely conf-ursa-ed, though, we should buy our lunches!", he exclaimed before standing up and breaking into a sprint towards Junes, leaving Kay behind. She sighed and ran after him. 

* * *

After they bought their lunches — three sandwiches for Teddie, one for Kay, a whole Swiss roll for dessert, and some juice boxes — and packed them into a shopping bag, Teddie grabbed Kay's hand and started walking towards the electronics department.

"So, what exactly are you going to show me?", she asked him while thinking about how nice his hand felt to hold.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he replied while thinking about how nice her hand felt to hold.

"Uh-huh."

After they arrived in front of the Investigation Team's favorite television, Teddie let go of Kay's hand, handed her the shopping bag, and pointed at the TV.

"See this?"

"Yeah, that's a television. I've seen those before, believe it or not."

"Well, have you seen _this_ before?"

As he finished his sentence, he sunk his arm halfway into the television screen. Kay's eyes widened as much as they possibly could and she instinctually leapt back.

"How... What... Whuhh...?", she 'asked' as best as she could while desperately trying to figure out how he was doing what he was doing.

"Oh, this is nothing. Check _this_ out!", he yelled before jumping entirely into the television.

Kay's poor mind could just barely accept him plunging his arm into the TV as some kind of an elaborate optical illusion, but upon seeing him disappear into the TV entirely, all she could do was gawk blankly at the television until he hopped back out of it after a moment.

"Wasn't that amazing, Kay-chan?", he asked her. When she didn't respond and just kept staring at him, he waved his hand in front of her face. "Hellooooo?"

"I'm still here," she responded quietly. "Let's... let's go eat," she continued before starting to slowly shuffle towards the food court.

* * *

After they sat down at the empty food court, Teddie immediately started chowing down his tuna sandwich, while Kay could still do nothing but quietly stare at him.

"You'd *munch* like an *chomp* explanation, right?", he asked her, his mouth full of sandwich.

"Obviously," she stated bluntly before grabbing a pear juice box. "Please don't talk with your mouth full, though."

" _Fiiine_ ," he replied before stuffing the rest of his sandwich into his mouth and quickly swallowing it. He then started explaining (almost) everything. He told her about Shadows, Personas, the Midnight Channel, how the murders happened, and how they defeated Ameno-Sagiri and Izanami (though he decided to leave out the Investigation Team's later escapades, because the explanation was already too confusing as it was).

After he was seemingly done with his story, Kay put her now-empty juice box on the table, crossed her arms, and looked at him with a smile on her face.

"So your secret is that you fought evil and helped save the world? That's pretty freakin' hardcore," she said, clearly very impressed. However, Teddie looked anything but proud. He was shiftily looking everywhere except at Kay, twiddling his thumbs like there was no tomorrow, and rocking back and forth in his chair.

"Well, uh, there's... one more thing I should tell you," he mumbled. "You're probably not going to like it." Kay's warm expression quickly turned into one of mild worry.

"Do tell," she said while rhytmically tapping the table with her fingers. He slowly straightened his posture, grabbed an apple juice box, and took a hearty sip out of it.

"Deep breaths, Teddie. Deep breaths," he quietly mumbled to himself before directing his gaze at Kay. "Okay, so, uh... the thing is that I... I'm a Shadow."

For the last couple days, Teddie had thought hard about how Kay might react to these news, but not even in his wildest fantasies did he predict how it would _actually_ go. Before he had even properly finished what he was saying, Kay slammed her hands into the table and leaned across it almost as much as she could, until her face was mere inches away from Teddie's. Her expression was one of pure bliss, and she was breathing very heavily.

"T-That means you're... you're a _monster_ , right?", she asked him between her huffs. He leaned back a bit and looked at her, slightly scared.

"I think so, yeah. Is... Is that good?", he asked her. She leaned forward even further, until her nose was almost touching his. He could feel her increasingly heavy breathing on his skin, and that combined with her maniacal gaze made him briefly consider running away, but the fact that he was finally getting attention from a girl ultimately convinced him to stay, even if she was potentially going to make minced meat of him in a dark basement.

"It's not just 'good', it's _everything I've ever dreamed of_!", she half-yelled in his face. "I like monsters very, _very_ , **_very_** much!"

"That's... that's great and all, but right now _you're_ the one scaring _me_ ,", Teddie responded sheepishly. Kay realized she wasn't exactly giving the best impression of herself, so she meekly crawled back to her seat.

"Heh... uh, sorry about that. It's just that, like I said, I'm a _very_ big fan of monsters in... all kinds of ways and, uh, I never thought I'd actually get to meet one in real life, so I got a bit too excited," she mumbled while looking at her twiddling thumbs and occasionally glancing at Teddie.

"Oh, that's okay. I'm just glad you like me the way I am. I can't say I'm exactly very monstrous, though," he said while not being sure how to feel about what he was saying.

"That's fine. Until like 10 minutes ago, I didn't even think monsters actually existed, and now I know I've been _talking_ to one! Even if you mostly just look like that, it's still amazing!", she said before scratching her chin for a moment. "...Is it fine if I call you a 'monster'? I suppose that could be a bit insulting."

"No problemo!", he replied while holding his thumb up. "So, does this mean you're open to a relationship?", he asked her without any of his previous hesitation.

"Well, _yeah_ ," she replied very directly. "I mean, I do still have _some_ doubts, but if you think for a second I'm going to let a genuine monster pass me by, you must be nuts."

"Sweet! Now I have a girlfriend _and_ heartbreak ice cream!", Teddie exclaimed happily.

After they vaguely decided that they were now in some kind of a relationship, they happily ate their lunches together.

Later that day, Yosuke smacked Teddie on the head several times with a rolled-up newspaper for divulging top-secret information to people he barely even knew. However, they contacted Yu via email, and it was ultimately all 'gucci'.

Meanwhile, Kay told Janine about her wonderful new boyfriend, but because she couldn't exactly tell her that he was a monster, it sounded a bit weird. Janine still congratulated her heartily.


End file.
